Although Liu Shunchen knew that Shen Shuren's reinforcements would arrive soon, after all, they had not arrived yet.
After all, there is still at least half a day's time difference between the courier and the main force.
Therefore, he had to rely on his own troops to defend Chenglingji for half a day. If Li Dingguo dared to invade, he must resolutely repel it.
Fortunately, Liu Shunchen's psychological advantage was much better than that of the defenders in Baling City. After all, he knew that reinforcements were coming soon. The morale of the entire army was also very high, and the fighting spirit was overwhelming. There were also Wubao fortifications to rely on, so there should be no problem.
Not big.
And even if the reinforcements arrive, they cannot all arrive at once. The main force will have to be mobilized in batches and set off. It is estimated that the first batch will be just the cavalry troops under Chen Shuren, which will not be large in number, and then the main force of the Wuchang camp.
As for more follow-up troops, it may take seven or eight days or even ten and a half months of dispatching, preparation, and marching before they can arrive in batches at the Hunan battlefield.
Shen Shuren is not a god, and Zhang Xianzhong's behavior has already deviated from the trajectory of history, so it is impossible to predict it by using a prophet or a clairvoyant.
Therefore, no matter how smart Shen Shuren is, he can at best just make a tactic, show the enemy weakness, take advantage of the enemy's lack of logistics supplies, and must expand new territories to lure Zhang Xianzhong out.
As for the specific way in which Zhang Xianzhong would be seduced, Shen Shuren didn't know.
Therefore, he could only divide his troops for guarding beforehand. He also left a considerable number of troops in Xiangyang in the north, Wuchang in the south, and other key nodes, so he could not completely relax.
The troops here in Wuchang are designed to respond quickly once Zhang Xianzhong chooses to fight out of the native and Miao mountainous areas such as Shizhouwei and Yongshun Xuanweisi.
The troops on the Xiangyang side were on guard in case Zhang Xianzhong climbed over Shennongjia and left Yunyang again. Although Shennongjia was more difficult to climb than Shizhouwei, it was not because the geography was more dangerous, but because Shennongjia was a complete no-man's land.
, only the savages cannot raise food and grass halfway, so it is more difficult to maintain logistics than the natives and Miao people in the mountainous areas.
But after all, it is impossible to rule out this possibility. Last year, Zhang Xianzhong came out of Jingmen to sneak attack Xiangyang. What if it happens again this year?
"First Evolution"
Zhang Xianzhong did not conquer Shennongjia in the end, but this does not mean that Chen Shuren left the wrong troops in Xiangyang.
Be careful and you won't make a big mistake.
Chen Shuren, who claimed to have a total force of 80,000, could use against Zhang Xianzhong in the first five or six days, that is, the more than 20,000 people in the van.
…
The reinforcements sent by Fang Kongzhen were temporarily stationed in Chenglingji, and of course they quickly attracted Li Dingguo's attention.
In the morning of the same day, Li Dingguo's vanguard troops arrived at the foot of Baling City. The scout cavalry sent out dozens of miles to scout. Of course, they would immediately find that there were troops defending Chenglingji.
Moreover, you can also see the river and the large warships arrayed at the mouth of the lake. They must not be the local guardsmen of Yuezhou Prefecture.
Li Dingguo had just gotten off the ship and had not yet established a stable footing when he received this important military information reported by his subordinates. He also attached great importance to it and immediately summoned the main generals for a brief discussion.
Soon, deputy general Bai Wenxuan, pioneer Pan Shirong, Jiao Guangqi and others arrived at Li Dingguo's Chinese army tent.
Li Dingguo did not hesitate to talk about his concerns straight to the point: "Fang Kongzhen's reinforcements have arrived in Chenglingji. According to the reports from the scouts, the size of the reinforcements discovered so far is not large, and it should only be a few thousand people.
But the key is that our army is now trying to make an emergency landing in Baling. If the defenders in the city know that reinforcements have arrived, even if they don't know the number of reinforcements for the time being, it will greatly boost the morale of the defenders in the city. In this way, if the emergency landing fails, the only choice is to attack by force.
Therefore, the top priority is that we must send an army to Chenglingji. It would be best if we can annihilate the officers and soldiers before they have a stable foothold. Even if we cannot attack, we must set up camp and dig long moats to block the road and prevent Chenglingji from letting go.
The reinforcements went south and exchanged news with the defenders in Baling City - who dared to lead the troops to attack Lingji City?"
Deputy General Bai Wenxuan immediately asked for orders: "Second General, let me go! I'm afraid it will be difficult to attack Chenglingji quickly. After all, there is a Wubao camp. I'd better be prepared with both hands and block the news first."
Li Dingguo thought for a while: "We also need you here to attack the city. Since we are not sure of taking Chenglingji, you are overqualifying yourself."
The two vanguards nearby heard this. Jiao Guangqi was more reckless and dared to fight, so he asked: "Then let the general go!"
Li Dingguo felt that he was a little reckless, but this matter was not difficult. It would be better to let positive people do it, so he added a final note:
"You can go. I will give you thousands of cavalry and eight thousand infantry. The strength of the troops should be at least two or three times that of the defenders. After arriving, you first test whether the officers and soldiers are tenacious in fighting spirit. If the morale of the officers and soldiers is high,
If you can't escape, don't waste your life in vain, just cut off the news.
I will leave two-thirds of the main force to besiege Baling. Wenxuan, you lead the troops to camp around the east of the city, while I will camp by Dongting Lake and besiege the city on two sides."
After Li Dingguo finished giving his orders, each general took his orders and went on his own.
Zhang Xianzhong has been entrenched between Sichuan and Hubei for a year and a half, and now he still has 50,000 to 60,000 direct troops, plus almost the same number of cannon fodder for the new auxiliary troops.
The previous bloody battles with the natives and Miao people of Shizhouwei and Yongshun Xuanwei Division had resulted in heavy casualties, including many casualties from the epidemic. However, Zhang Xianzhong was good at coercion. When he had previously defeated Cili, Shimen, Lixian and other places, he had also been pulling in wildly.
Strong men, expanding the total number of the army back to about 110,000 or 20,000.
Of course, the quality of the soldier supply has definitely declined significantly. Now the number of veterans who have been thieves for many years in Shaanxi, Henan and other places has dropped below 50,000, and the proportion of hungry people who are able to survive has further increased.
Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong left 30,000 strong men to guard Sun Kewang's home, so he and Li Dingguo together brought out more than 80,000 people.
Zhang Xianzhong himself had 50,000 people on his way, and Li Dingguo's way was just over 30,000 people, so giving Jiao Guangqi more than 10,000 people to go to Chenglingji was already a lot. If there were any more, Li Dingguo's own side would be stretched thin.
…
Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan quickly set up camp respectively. After hastily completing the defensive line and siege, the two reviewed measures to persuade them to surrender.
Zhang Xianzhong's army is now coming over the mountains. It cannot bring heavy artillery at all. At most, it only has a few single-digit Folang machines. They were captured from the Ming army when Lixian, Anxiang and other places were scared to surrender.
.
On average, if you capture a guard station or county town, you can capture at most one or two Folang machines, which are only old-fashioned small Folang machines of three to five hundred kilograms, and none of the Thousand Jin Folang machines.
It is impossible to break through the city wall and break through Baling with this little firepower, that is, the sound of the sound will scare the defenders at the top of the city.
But idleness is idleness, so Li Dingguo arranged all the eight 300-jin to 500-jin Buddhist lanterns in the army at the west gate of Baling City. Facing the city gate, the battlements of the city towers were blasted.
After three rounds of artillery fire, he asked a group of scolding soldiers to step forward and shout in unison, urging them to surrender from a few hundred steps away:
"Listen to the defenders on the city. One hundred thousand soldiers of the eight kings are here! Open the city in one day and the whole city will be spared! Tomorrow we will attack the city with all our strength and then surrender. We will kill 20% of the rich households in the city! Kill half of them in three days! We will break it in five days.
City, slaughter all the chickens and dogs in the city and leave no one behind!"
Bai Wenxuan listened on the sidelines, still a little unwilling, and quietly persuaded Li Dingguo: "Why did the second general give them one day to think about it? They should be allowed to surrender immediately."
Li Dingguo shook his head: "We need to give people time to think. Those dog officials of the Ming Dynasty are afraid of taking responsibility. Before surrendering directly, they have to figure out how to shirk the blame. Moreover, we have not built siege weapons now. If they refuse to surrender immediately, we will also
If you can't retaliate immediately, you will lose your energy when the time comes.
To intimidate the enemy, you must also ensure that once the enemy does not accept the intimidation, you can immediately make them bleed with the strength of real swords and guns! Every day, step by step, the number of people in the city to be slaughtered increases, and the intimidation intensity is enough."
Historically, after the 12th or 3rd year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong gradually agreed and formed such a tacit understanding of terrifying tactics. Moreover, the further back they went, the stronger the bandits became and the harsher the conditions they offered.
For example, sixteen years after Chongzhen, Li Zicheng even conquered Kaifeng and Xi'an. After killing Sun Chuanting, his intimidation price was also increased to the highest level: after the army approached the city and surrendered before the attack was launched, he would not kill anyone and resist.
If you surrender after one day, one-third of the city will be slaughtered. If you resist for two days and the city is broken, two-thirds will be slaughtered. If you resist for more than three days and the city is broken, the whole city will be slaughtered.
There are a few more examples like this. After the news spread, the effect was extremely exaggerated. In history, after Li Zicheng crossed the Yellow River from Kaifeng to the north, he encountered stubborn resistance along the way except Zhou Yuji. In the end, the entire army and the people of the city were united.
Being massacred, other places basically dare not resist.
Of course, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are not yet so powerful, so Zhang Xianzhong's army has agreed to offer a threatening price of "if the city is broken after resisting for more than five days, the whole city will be slaughtered." Moreover, there is just enough time to prepare siege weapons on the first day.
Let the defenders think carefully and calm their minds.
In addition, psychological warfare is not just about waiting, but also about doing something. After Li Dingguo finished scolding, he immediately took supporting measures and asked the soldiers to carry strings of human heads on long poles and parade outside the city.
.
"The heads of the Yongding Guards and the three generals are all here! They dared to resist the heavenly soldiers, and their whole families have been slaughtered! The heads of the magistrates, magistrates, chiefs, and officials of Cili and Anxiang counties are here!
The eight kings' heavenly soldiers will defeat five counties in five days! Anyone who stands in their way will be killed! Shimen County, Li County, and Jiuxi Guards will surrender to the heavenly soldiers, and all the soldiers and people will be saved!"
The gatekeeper Qian Zong at the top of the city was trembling with fear after seeing the battle, and quickly reported the situation to the prefect and the garrison who were discussing countermeasures in the government office. Of course, the prefect and the garrison were also panicked, and they were in panic all day long.
…
At the foot of Baling City, Li Dingguo had exhausted all his tricks, but he still had to wait at least one day before the officers and soldiers gave in. After all, this was the seat of a government, and they were not yet cowardly enough to surrender.
The words were divided into two parts. On the other side of the battlefield, twenty miles north of the city, at around the end of the day, Jiao Guangqi led nearly ten thousand troops and rushed to Chenglingji in a chaotic manner. After a short observation, he persuaded him to surrender.
, threatening, while preparing to attack.
Jiao Guangqi's words of persuasion to surrender were of course similar to those of Li Dingguo. He simply said that for every extra day of resistance, 20% more people would be slaughtered after the stronghold was broken, so that the defenders could take care of themselves.
The difference was that Jiao Guangqi was more impatient and would not give the defenders time to think. The defenders did not agree to surrender on the spot, so he immediately launched a forceful attack.
However, although Liu Shunchen was timid, he still had the right location and fortifications to rely on. Last year, when Chen Shuren accepted Zuo Liangyu's inheritance, a batch of old-fashioned muskets were also found in Wuchang and Hanyang's army.
All of them were given to Fang Kongzheng.
So when Liu Shunchen came for reinforcements this time, he still had 500 old-fashioned fire guns, 300 of which were given to Fang Kongzhen by Chenshu people.
No matter how slow the old-fashioned firecrackers fire and how inefficient they are, the lethality is still very considerable when there are fortress walls to rely on.
After a fierce fight, the Ming army officers and soldiers who knew that they had reinforcements were in high morale and defended the wall without retreating. Hundreds of old-fashioned muskets fired cross-fire, knocking off Jiao Guangqi's forward who was trying to climb the wall with only a simple flying ladder.
.
Jiao Guangqi was also decisive. After hundreds of people were killed or wounded, he immediately realized that a forceful attack would not work, so he switched to isolation operations, surrounding the enemy and preventing reinforcements from being sent to Baling City.
As a result, more than an hour was dragged by. Before noon, Jiao Guangqi had just circled the camp and had no time to cut down the wood to make a fence. At most, he only asked the soldiers to dig a long, semi-finished trench shallowly, with a depth of no more than one foot.
We didn't even prepare any traps and bamboo sticks, and then we saw a small army of reinforcements arriving from the north.
There were not many in number, only about two thousand, but they were all cavalry. The leading general was not a direct descendant of Shenshu people, but was just Zhu Wenzhen, a general from Cao Bianjiao's old army who had been rescued from Liaodong.
Chen Shuren had no choice but to let Liaodong Fugitive General lead the cavalry, because he had no cavalry generals under his command before, and his direct descendants were all southerners and not good at horse fighting.
A general of the Liaodong Army, after all, he had lived with Guan Ning's cavalry, fought together as a robe, had never eaten pork, and had seen pigs run away. As long as he learned half of the combat power of Guan Ning's cavalry, he would be very qualified.
Jiao Guangqi did not understand the situation for a while, so he did not send troops to intercept Zhu Wenzhen from entering Chenglingji.
After a cup of tea, Zhu Wenzhen met Liu Shunchen and briefly asked about the situation and learned about the enemy's situation.
Later, when he learned that Liu Shunchen was so cowardly that he had not sent the news that "reinforcements have arrived" to Baling City to boost the morale of the army, Zhu Wenzhen couldn't help but be very disdainful:
"What are you doing! The reinforcements have arrived, why don't you think of a way to notify the defenders in the city? What if the defenders surrender in despair because they don't know there are reinforcements! You are trying to miss a big deal!
Before sending troops, Shen Futai's first words to me were that after arriving in Yuezhou, we must let the defenders know that we are coming as soon as possible!"
Liu Shunchen was also helpless. He spread his hands and said: "General Zhu, it's not that we don't want to report the news. Zhang Ni has always been cunning. I heard that he even sent people to deceive the city. Now the city is full of frightened birds. If we go to report the news, they won't open the city and let us go."
If you go in, doesn’t the person who reported the news die in vain?”
Zhu Wenzhen arrogantly despised: "Who asked you to report the message secretly? If you report the message, the defenders won't believe it and won't open the door. Let's go back the same way! Defeat the bandit army blocking the road, and then we can report the message safely!"
Li Shunchen was stunned: "Defeat the enemy troops surrounding the north of the city, and then report the news? General Zhu, are you kidding me? There are tens of thousands of people in Jiao Guangqi's department. We only have four thousand here, and you can only bring two thousand."
It would be good for us to defend Chenglingji. You want us to take the initiative to go out of the city with 6,000 people to find 10,000 people to fight in the field? If you want to go there, you can take your 2,000 people there! I want to defend Chenglingji and cannot let the channel at the mouth of Dongting Lake fall.
It’s in the hands of thieves!”
Zhu Wenzhen did not hesitate: "I'll go, I'll go! I don't want foot soldiers like you to get in the way! Although I only have two thousand troops, it is impossible to annihilate ten thousand people, but I can defeat some of them and carve out a bloody road to retaliate."